When Your Pastor Behaves Like a Jerk

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Lewisville, NC has plenty of churches, but as far as I know it only has one pastor (now ex-pastor) who maintains a regular blog. I stumbled across the blog of one local congregation's pastor a few years ago and at one point wrote a post about some misgivings I had about his congregation's approach to proseltyzing to folks in hospice. He left me a comment on that post inviting me to lunch to discuss the matter and I looked forward to having a lively discussion. Alas the lunch never happened and later that year he resigned from the church. When I read of his resignation I sent him an email wishing him well and I believe I even offered a helping hand, although in practical terms I don't have many connections that would likely be of use to a Baptist preacher. His reply to my email was, well, curt.

The pastor's blog remained in my reader and occassionally he would write something that caught my attention. His latest post – My Former Church, Obama, Nice vs. Kind, SBC Name Change – offers a not-so-subtle hint as to why he might have had to resign from his church:

To The People At My Former Church
I am not your long, lost buddy, or your best friend. When you see me and you want to hug me, don't be surprised if I don't want to hug you back. Your refusal to take a stand against the evil in the church is the reason I am no longer there. I don't blame the evil people for revealing who they truly are. However, I lay the church problems at the feet of you who refused to stand up for what is right because you didn't want to rock the boat. You closed your eyes to the boil on the butt of the church and refused to lance it. Your cowardice in the name of peace did not and does not honor the Lord Jesus. I have moved on. So when you see me in the marketplace, don't be surprised when I don't pretend to be your good buddy. I'm not. 

That's the damndest interpretation of forgiveness and grace I've ever seen from a man of the cloth. But he really shows us something with his take on why Obama will win the election:

Obama Will Win
Not because I want him to win, nor will I vote for him, but I believe he will win a second term. This election is not about issues, it's about race. Most African-Americans will vote for Obama because he is black. They are proud to have one of their own in charge. They will always give him the benefit of the doubt. Black folks will vote for Obama and a few white folks will too. That is why Obama will be reelected. It doesn't really matter what the Republicans do or who they run. Obama will win.

Considering that African Americans make up less than 13% of the US population I'd say President Obama would need more than a "few" white votes to be reelected. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the candidate the Republicans pick, the state of the economy and the rise or fall of unemployment will have as much or more to do with the President's chances than race will.

Earlier in his post our friendly pastor wrote:

I have come to the point in my life where I am going to say what I think. You may like it or you may not like it. My remarks will not be politically correct. We have too many folks tiptoeing around words and never saying nothing. My tiptoeing days are over. I'm not going to place links in my posts or cite any sources. I am out of school and this is not a term paper. If you don't like my comments, then don't read the blog.

There won't be any comments on the blog. I don't have the time to moderate them because many of you will just say stupid things and expect me to respond. I don't have the time nor the desire to respond. If you want to talk about stuff, get your own blog.

Obviously I do have a blog, which means I'm able to comment and what I have to say is this: bitterness truly only hurts the man who carries it.  Also, you'd be well advised to say the Lord's Prayer and pay particular attention to the whole "trespasses" thing when you do. I truly hope you find it in your heart to forgive, because if you don't you're the one being hurt, not your former congregants.

How to Remove Your Google Search History

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You might have heard that Google is changing its privacy policy, and you might have also seen that more than a few people are upset about it. I'm not up on the issue enough to say how bad (or good) a thing it is, but I did like the fact that as a result of all the hullabaloo I learned how to remove my Google web search history.

It took four steps and less than 30 seconds.

Attempted Suicide by Jaguar, Apprenticed to a Pirate

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From the NY Times obit of John Fairfax, the first man to row solo across the Atlantic:

For all its bravura, Mr. Fairfax’s seafaring almost pales beside his earlier ventures. Footloose and handsome, he was a flesh-and-blood character out of Graham Greene, with more than a dash of Hemingway and Ian Fleming shaken in.

At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle.

At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed a mink farm, one of the few truly dull entries on his otherwise crackling résumé, which lately included a career as a professional gambler.

Mine would read something like: he commuted relentlessly, day after day, to climate controlled boxes where he endeavoured to complete tasks that, if described here, would induce sleep.

Presidential Election 2.0

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Fed up with the candidates the Democrats and Republicans are putting forward for POTUS? Not willing to throw your vote away on Libertarian or Green Party whack-jobs? There might be hope for you yet:

AMERICANS ELECT is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with any political party, ideology or candidate. It is funded exclusively by individual contributions—and not from corporate, labor, special interest, foreign, or lobbyist sources. And we intend to repay our initial financing so that no single individual will have contributed more than $10K.

Ultimately, Americans Elect is the first nominating process that will be led directly by voters like YOU…

THE GOAL OF AMERICANS ELECT is to nominate a presidential ticket that answers directly to voters—not the political system.

American voters are tired of politics as usual. They want leaders that will put their country before their party, and American interests before special interests. Leaders who will work together to develop fresh solutions to the serious challenges facing our country. We believe a secure, online nominating process will prove that America is ready for a competitive, nonpartisan ticket.

Coffee Addict App

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I'm wondering if I can afford the $1 for the Droid version of this app:

Two doctors at Penn State University have developed Caffeine Zone, a free iOS app that tells you the perfect time to take a coffee break to maintain an optimal amount of caffeine in your blood — and, perhaps more importantly, it also tells you when to stop drinking tea and coffee, so that caffeine doesn’t interrupt your sleep.

Shocker – Men Like to Impress Women

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Freakonomics reports on one of those scientific studies that when you hear about it has you shaking your head and saying, "Well, duh. Silly scientists."

In a nutshell the researchers findings show that men donate more money to a cause when they know they're being observed by an attractive female, but women's donations don't vary at all even when they know they're being observed by an attractive male. Are you shocked?

The best part of the Freakonomics post was this sentence spoken by one of the researchers: "The research shows that good deeds among men increase when presented with an opportunity to copulate."

Well, duh.